At Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins (Larimer) today, I had a total of right
at 30 species. That is by far the best total of 2013. None of the birds seen
were particularly rare, but the place is always interesting.
Highlights include:
Merlin - my FOY, nice male prairie form, sitting in a tall tree out on City
Park Nine golf course, seen from the se corner of the cemetery looking south
(no doubt the same individual reported yesterday)
Great Horned Owl - female on the nest in the traditional American Elm crotch
used off and on over the last few decades, couldn't find the male but he is no
doubt nearby
*Pine Siskin - MAJOR influx, with at least two dozen (maybe twice that many)
engaged in active courtship, no doubt will breed locally - since they were
quite scarce all winter in my travels at low elevation in eastern CO (except at
Lamar), one has to wonder where the recently arrived birds came from. Some of
their vocalizations are remarkably like Common Redpoll, or is it vice versa?
Cedar Waxwing - flock of at least 25 in a private backyard I did not enter,
feeding on an unidentified shrub berry (possibly Euonymous sp. or maybe a type
of Frangula ("buckthorn")). Thought I kept hearing the throaty calls of
Bohemians mixed in but could never glimpse one.
Northern Flicker - major courtship activity underway: side-by-side
"wicka-wicka" dancing, drumming on nest boxes, chase flights, cavity
exploration and renovation, trumpet song
House Finches - singing profusely everywhere
Brown Creeper - only 1 or 2, which makes me wonder if they have already begun
to disperse to higher elevations
Townsend's Solitaire - at least 3, closely tied to juniper trees
Dark-eyed Juncos - lots of song (can the various forms be separated by voice?)
Eurasian Constantlyfornicating-Dove - several (more when I left than when I
arrived, even more tomorrow)
Lots of small bird species observed drinking "sugar water" in Silver Maples
with rising/leaking sap, lots of dripping from these trees.
Dave Leatherman
Fort Collins
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